Rowan Wood and Silver Bullets
by Kirashound
Summary: Centuries ago the War of Fang and Claw came to an end with the in-statement of a tenuous accords. Now, as the recent actions of a power hungry leader pushes the Night World towards war, saving the world as they know it falls to a Vampire lord without a coven and an Alpha wold with a most unconventional pack. AU Light X L.
1. Prologue: Polarization

Prologue: Polarization

The sun had set hours before, leaving the sky an endless expanse of starless black satin. The buildings of the city surrounding the one on which he stood-sky scrapers and offices and restaurants-were all carved from deep blue stone and studded with countless lighted windows in the way a kings crown was studded with precious gem stones or the sky over the village where he'd been born-hundred of years ago now-had been studded with stars. It was a truly beautiful sight, one that could only be appreciated by a being who lived entirely shrouded in darkness. His ancient eyes, eyes that had seen many things both good and tragic, eyes that were far sharper than any humans, could see every facet of this beauty. His ears could hear every breath the city took. His nose-sense of smell as keen as any predator's-could pick out every intermingling scent that made up Tokyo; run off from recent rains, diesel fuel, smoke and Humans. The air was cold, carrying with it the first bites of winter's teeth as it curled around his arms and chest, pulling at the crisp white over shirt he wore with a sound like a ship's sail flapping in an ocean wind. The moon was a Cheshire cat's smile, sinking fast on the horizon.

_It will be dawn soon, _Light thought, spreading his enormous leathery wings from their hiding place pressed against his back. _It's been far too long already. I must feed before returning home. _Leaning forward until the wind took him, he glided lazily down to land on the street far below and pass beneath the dimly glowing streetlamps. It wasn't long before he came across a woman standing at a street corner, wearing enormous heels and tiny clothes, a prostitute, he could hazard a guess. Distasteful, but after having put off the hunt for six months he had neither the time nor the energy to be choosy, and nor did the late hour allow. He'd gladly take what he could get.

"Excuse me," his voice was a rich purr, soft seductive and irresistible. The woman looked up at him and smiled, drawing forwards; it was only when she was a few feet from him that the confidence faltered and turned to fear; she'd seen his eyes-Red irises, slit pupils; the beginning signs of Vampiric starvation-but by then it was already too late; revealing of his true nature though his eyes may have been, they served their purpose holding his victim helplessly entranced. "Do not worry my dear, I will be far more gentle than most of your customers. You'll feel no pain, why, as a matter of fact, you won't even remember this tomorrow." With one hand he gently tilted up the woman's chin and brushed her hair to the side to expose her neck. "I know that aiding me in any way was never your intention or desire, but allow me to thank you for it regardless." Light was proud of his control; he had forged and tempered it to be all but unbreakable over his many centuries of life and it was one of the things that separated him-a Vampire Lord-from Neophytes, and even the occasional Noble, the could so easily snap. It was a simple task to restrain himself even after months without and the taste of blood in his mouth; he was careful to take only what he needed and no more before withdrawing and leaving the woman unconscious but unharmed. Light licked the blood from his lips as red faded back to his usual tawny brown and needle-like canines shrank back to be just slightly longer than the average Human's. With the pressing matter of his thirst taken care of, he again rose into the air and winged off over the city towards the house where he lived with his coven. His coven. His Family. Sayu, his 'sister' who he himself had turned after finding her amidst the ruin streets of Nagasaki after the bomb had dropped; Mogi, an incredibly strong and stoically silent vampire he'd inherited along with his title from the Vampire who had made him; Matsuda, a young noble rank who admired Light to the point of all but worshiping the ground he walked on and a few others. His home, to which he was only now returning to after being away an entire year in Transylvania, the Night Children's seat of power, arguing against the election of an young upstart calling himself Kira. Whether his words had had any effect, however, was yet to be seen; the final vote would be cast in one month's time, but until then he was determined to spend time in his city with his family. Let them deliberate without him; it didn't take all seven Lords to screw in the proverbial light-bulb. As he alighted softly on the grass, Light allowed himself a moment to smile. "Home at last." A soft wind whispered at his back, as if trying to push him forwards towards the house. No lights were on inside, which struck him as rather odd; sure, dawn had begun to stain the horizon line in blood but Sayu, at least, was normally up until well passed noon fighting stubbornly against exhaustion. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he stepped up onto the porch; the front door stood slightly ajar with the lock busted out and blood on the door jam. Proceeding with marked caution Light reached out to push open the kitchen door; having to push against unexpected resistance, he managed to open it and step inside and that was when he saw it. Mogi had been blocking the door, his body lying across the entrance way like a felled tree, and just passed him, curled up in an enormous puddle of blood was… "_No!"_ He rushed across the room, falling to his knees and reaching towards the tiny prone form even while knowing there was nothing he could do. "Sayu!" What had happened? Who had done this and why? A floor board creaked; he twisted around with a feral yowl just in time to catch the invading vampire by the wrist and stop the deadly Rowan wood stake cold just inches from piercing his chest. It was a male, tall and burly with short cropped dark hair and cold grey eyes. He wore a suit, much like what a businessman would wear, along with a snarling expression of displeasure.

"You're better than I thought you'd be, Yagami Light." His would-be assassin grunted. "But are you good enough to take two of us at once?" the presence of the other registered on him at exactly that moment; Slightly taller and similarly dressed with feathered black hair falling down to his broad shoulders. He, too, held a bloody Rowan stake in one hand. Light hissed, a low feral warning growl building in his chest in a futile attempt to frighten him off.

_I can't take them both at once, not with them armed like they are! To grab hold of one I have to let go of the other, and either way I'm ending up with a stake through my heart!_ As the black-haired one closed in for the kill, Light instinctively closed his eyes and braced for impact. Blood, hot and wet, splattered his face and a whimper of pain shattered the silence and causing Light to almost loose his grip on the first attacker. He'd appeared out of nowhere, evidently badly injured even without the latest stab-wound to his shoulder' blood soaked his tattered shirt and smeared his skin and he was barely able to stand.

"Light-sama."

"Matsuda, what are you-!"

"Light-s-sama, listen to me!" the young Noble interrupted with all of the force that he could still manage to muster. "Flee. Run far away. They're here to kill you; K-Kira sent them."

"Matsuda, you idiot! I'm _not_ leaving you here to die!"

Almost unable to form coherent sentences but stubbornly planning to fight, the younger vampire shook his head. "Yes-s you are. Better me…than both of us. Light-sama, Kira will destroy our people you s-said so yourself. You're the only one who can stop him."

"That's more than enough out of you!" Light's captive broke free of his slackened grip and pounced on the weakened man, bringing him to the ground in a flurry of hisses and growls. Without fully realizing what he was doing, his body acting on its own accord, Light ceased his chance and barreled passed the black-haired one, erupting out of the front door and onto the lawn with every fiber of his being screaming at him to go back and fight, to die with his family, as every instinct screamed for him to run and save himself. He spread his wings for the third time that night, leaping as high as he could knowing the rapidly lightening sky was his only salvation as only Vampire Lords had the power to fly.

"Higuchi, he's getting away!"

"Well Teru, what the hell do you expect me to do about it? _Go after him!" _The black-haired one came flying out of the front door, but by then it was already too late; Light was out of reach, but the knowledge did little to calm him. If anything, it only heightened his fear more. He flew, tears and the harsh light of the sun blinding him as his Nocturnal nature threatened to drag him down into sleep and send him crashing to the ground.

_No, not yet! Far away! I must leave Japan and get FAR away! Somewhere far away and safe. Find help and stop Kira somehow. _But how would he stop him and just where was safe? The answer to these questions, Light didn't know.


	2. Disturbing the Peace

Chapter one: Disturbing the Peace

His wings felt like lead as he flapped, flagging, in the cold windy rainy air over a city that he didn't recognize. He'd been flying nonstop since the incident had happened without food or rest and had no idea exactly how long it had been; day had turned to night many times over as both land and sea had passed beneath him. He'd left Japan behind, left all of Asia behind, and was distantly aware that at current he was somewhere over Europe. Europe, where Transylvania was. Where Kira was. Again, dread coursed through him once again. _I can't land! The ground isn't safe! Only the sky is safe! _But by then it was out of his hands; his wings fell limp at his sides and he plummeted out of the sky, the wind lashing at his face as the earth rushed up to meet him; a black spot in the center of the city's grey; a park full of dead grass and trees stripped bare by the turning of the seasons; he broke the skin of ice that had formed over a shallow pond and sank like a stone until his back hit the soft silt covering the bottom. The water was brackish and rancid, stained greenish-brown by algae and cold as his skin; it rushing into his mouth and down his throat to fill his lungs as even the instinct to gag-one of the few remnants of his Human life long past-deserted him. Darkness overcame him as he began to slowly float upwards back towards the surface; whether it was death or sleep, he welcomed it.

_ The sun was setting as he sat just within the mouth of the cave, looking out over the world that night had dyed in hues of purple and blue. A warm summer wind whistled passed him into the Earth's yawning maw, sweetened by the scent of wildflowers as a Nightengale cried out in the forest surrounding him. Placing a hand on his knee, he absentmindedly investigated his new-grown fangs with his tongue for what had to be the millionth time and cut himself in the process._

_ "You're up early." Looking around at the voice from behind him, Light smiled before scrambling to his feet and offering the elder Vampire a subservient bow._

_ "I am eager for my first true hunt, Father." The Vampire Lord was actually his creator, but he remembered nothing of his former life and so had attached the title to the man who had made him and given him his name almost without meaning to. "Is it difficult to kill a Human?"_

_ "We will not be killing, Light."_

_ "But-?"_

_ "Hear me," he fell silent immediately at the order. "We depend upon Human blood to survive, that is true, but what right do we have to take their lives to fuel our own? None. We do not need that excess strength; we are not at war. As such, I shall teach you the control that is necessary to take only what you must."_

His Father; the former Vampire with the claim to the Yagami Lord title. A man who was incredibly wise and even more ancient. The man who had created him, raised him and taught him everything he knew. The man who had faded from existence-as all immortals did in the end-when Light was just passed his first century.

_Father_. Consciousness was returning slowly. _I've never needed your wisdom more than I do at this moment._

"Wake up!" An unfamiliar voice shattered his thoughts, pulling him faster towards the waking world. Someone was shaking him. "Oi! Wake up!" His eyes fluttered open; someone was leaning over him with worry in their eyes. He was soaked through, his clothing and hair rapidly freezing in the chill air. He remembered falling from the sky in exhaustion and landing in the frozen pond. Remembered sinking to the bottom and blacking out. He most have floated back to the surface at some point and remained there over the course of a day; night had fallen once again at just passed late evening. Leaning over him was a man, eyes wide behind square framed glasses and tailor made suit soaked through with pond water likely from the act of fishing him out of the sub-zero drink. A good sameritan with no idea of the mistake that he had made. _'We are not at war.' _Words spoken so long ago.

_ I am now. _Light felt only faint regret as his fangs sank into the man's neck.

The candy store towered above him like the gates of Heaven, sparkling invitingly beneath London's street lamps like a blessed oasis in the heart of a burning desert. In the enormous front windows stood two gigantic chocolate fountains, overflowing with the precious substance that to him was more valuable than all the gold and diamonds in the world. Displays had been erected throughout the shop, crowded with a whole variety of marvelous sweet confections. A wide array of ice cream flavors in a whole myriad of colors gleamed like rare gemstones beneath a glass cover and the sweet-cinnamony scent of fresh baked waffle cones wrapped him in a comforting blanket. But the fountains. The glorious fountains. He just couldn't stop staring at them!

"Chocolate is bad for dogs, you know." Good mood shattering like glass he rounded on the little white twerp who would even dare to think about insulting him, but before anything could be done his best friend and self-proclaimed keeper stepped in between them.

"Mello, please, if you're going to go wolf on him do it back at the den. As for you, Near, you know better than to goad him right before the full moon." Yes, Matt was his best friend, but he was also more than that. They were always together. Always looking out for each other. The mere thought of him illicited both pleasant warm feelings and the feral all-consuming desire to protect. "And, speaking of goading him, if Mello is a dog what does that make you?"

"What it makes me isn't of issue; In fact it has nothing to do with it." The white-haired teen responded in his usual infuriating manner. "Let's just get what we came for and head back; we shouldn't keep the pack leader waiting for his sweets."

"Most definitely not," Matt agreed, shuddering. "Let's not forget what happened last time."

Grabbing his usual chocolate bar before following the others to the counter, he paid for their fix and the trio left the store. Another cold winter's night, cloudy and windy and threatening with yet more rain. The streets were mostly empty, but he did notice one young man standing at a street corner with a hand raised to his bloodied mouth. _Tourists. _He thought, shaking his head. _A menace in the bars. _The silence between the three pack members continued until they arrived at the 'den', an abandoned police building four city blocks away. The last thing that any of them had expected was to be greeted at the door.

"Don't worry, we've got the sweets." Mello assured, tossing him the bag. To his complete surprise, the other werewolf allowed the sweets to fall to the ground.

"This has nothing to do with that!" L snapped urgently. "We've got a Vampire problem!"


	3. Cry Wolf

Chapter 2: Cry Wolf

"A Vampire problem?" Mello repeated, stunned; the candy lay forgotten on the ground, spilled across the pavement. "W-What do you mean? We pushed those pale-skinned bastards out of the British Isles ages ago! Great Britain is uncontested wolf territory!"

"Not anymore," L replied grimly. "Victims, drained dry, have shown up scattered across the entire city. In three nights the body count has already risen to just over fifty victims."

"Fifty?" Matt's shock was evident in the widening of his eyes behind the tinted goggles that he wore. "How many of them are there? An entire Coven-?"

"No! One!" He barked, silencing him. "A single lone male vampire is responsible for this. The Night's Children, in accordance to their Accords with us, do not take more than one human a month each and when they do kill they are discrete and dispose of all of the evidence. They have abided by this for thousands of years. But not this one."

"Could he be a neophyte? A newly turned?"

"You don't see the point," this time it was Near who spoke. "This level of destruction is perfectly within the power of a wild 'new born' undead with an absent sire, but young Vampires cannot consume that much blood; their bodies, still essentially human, would reject such an overload. No. The fact that every last one of the victims has had the blood drained from their bodies down to the last drop tells us that an old, no an _Ancient_ Vampire is responsible for this. A Nobel. Maybe even a Lord. It is also that he is desperate. Desperate for power and acting outside of the Night Children's laws, but why? Power comes from feeding off of Human blood, but over consumption of it can transform a Vampire into a feral beast. To run that risk…something more is wrong here."

"Near is correct in that it can only be an elder vampire at fault here." L agreed. "If a Lord is responsible…too much remains unclear for us to safely condemn the perpetrator to death on sight. No. We will capture him and question him, and then decide his fate."

"We have to find and subdue him first, and if he really is one of the seven great clan lords than that will be exceedingly difficult." Matt mused, looking more than a little bit troubled. "We may not catch him until it's too late, if we catch him at all. How do we even go about looking?"

"We hit the streets, that's how! Go to the kill sites. Pick up that walking corpse's scent and hunt him down!" Mello yowled, all but frothing at the mouth for excitement. Decades without anything truly entertaining, and now finally things had begun to get interesting again.

"Mello is right, it's the only thing that we can do. But do not go alone; underestimating our enemy is the quickest path to a merciless death. Regardless of our intent to capture him alive, let us not forget for a moment that, shaky peace aside, the Children of the Night are our blood enemies."

"I'll watch him, L. Don't worry." Matt assured, hand coming to rest on the blonde's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

"Alright, Matt you stay with Mello and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid to get himself into trouble. Near, you're with me. Fan out, but don't go far."

"Right." Sliding seamlessly into the skins of wolves, the two groups split up and headed in opposite directions.

"Mello, where are we going?" Matt called up to him, following a few paces behind the yellow wolf.

"I want to check something, it won't take long." He replied, slowing from a run only once in view of the candy shop where they had been only twenty minutes before. He'd only seen the young man in passing and it hadn't occurred to him as being important at the time, but now that the truth of a Vampire on a rampage had come to light Mello realized that the figure he had assumed to be a tourist who had taken a bottle to the teeth in a bar fight may have been something more; the blood on his lips may not have been his own. Darting across the street to where the youth had stood he put his nose to the pavement and recoiled almost immediately. An alien and entirely inhuman smell. A smell he hadn't come across in what seemed like an eternity. A smell that was unforgettable, and instantly recognizable as Vampire; a faintly sweet odor similar to raw vanilla mixed with copper and the blood the parasites fed on to survive all wrapped up with the burning sensation of breathing in air cold enough to form ice-crystals in his lungs. He bared his teeth, hackles rising on his back as a guttural growl rumbled in his chest; the red wolf behind him answered with a wary grumble, ears perked for any sound and eyes scanning for the slightest movement. "He was here! We walked right passed him and didn't even know!"

"There's no use beating ourselves up over the fact. He's long gone now."

"We should follow the scent. Maybe we can find the hole it crawled into."

"Mello, that isn't a good idea. The Vampire responsible for this is powerful! We should wait for L and Near before we go running into the Lion's den."

"I never said anything about running _into _the Lion's den. All I'm suggesting is finding its location." Mello growled back, blue eyes narrowing at his pack mate. "You can come or I can go myself, it's up to you. Either way, I'm going."

"This is a bad idea," Matt insisted, but trailed reluctantly after him anyway. The smell was horrible, the sheer intensity of it inflicting physical pain and making his eyes water to the point where his vision blurred. Down the street, twisting and turning through the city along alleyways and dingy backstreets. Then, with the reeking brown water of the Thames within sight the trail cut off abruptly, as if their quarry had lifted up into the sky.

"Looks like the bastard can fly." He snarled, glaring reproachfully up at the clouds swirling above them. "That confirms it then. It's a Lord."

"It's time to call the scouting mission; we've gone further than we should have, and L will want to know what we've found out. We should really get back." It could be up there at that very moment, circling just out of sight like an enormous hell kite. The mere thought of it swooping down upon them drew a whimper from his muzzle. Mello snorted.

"Look at you, all worked up over a blood sucker." He grumbled, but turned to walk back the way they'd come. "Come on then; let's start heading back before you start having fantasies of it popping out of the storm drain to bite your toes off."

Matt would get him back for the mocking later. At the moment he was in too much of a hurry to get back to the safety of the pack to care that the object of his long term affections was making fun of him.


	4. Fang and Claw

Chapter 3 – Fang and Claw

Light did not like the city called London. It was different from everything he'd ever known in the most stark of ways. The people there spoke a different language, English; though it wasn't any real issues seeing as he gained the ability to speak it perfectly upon claiming his first victim, it was still enough of a discomfort to make him yearn for the comparatively friendly streets of Tokyo and miss the warmth of a coven all the more. It was always cloudy without even the barest hint of the sun's face in all the time that he had been there, which admittedly wasn't all that long, and rained insessantly. The city was noisy and unwelcoming and stank at fault of the horrible brown river that ran through it. And the realization that the hell in which he had found himself was inhabited by werewolves was indeed most troubling; Light had seen three of them walk passed him on the streets, and only a few minutes later two had returned and caught his scent, following it until it disappeared entirely unaware of the fact that he was watching them from his place well hidden in the shadows. They'd left quickly without spotting him, returning to their pack to report what they had found to their pack leader. A pack. A family. The images of what had become of his because he wasn't there to defend them once more bubbled to the surface, and with a screech of agony Light threw himself from the roof of the cathedral where he'd been crouching like a gargoyle and climbed into the sky. The sun had set, and it was time to hunt again; he couldn't afford a moment's wasted time, even if the situation at hand now called for him to be a great deal more careful. A pack could, after all, consist of up to twenty wolves and they were almost inevitably larger than any coven or clan. Though many vampires curled their lips and dismissed them as little more than beasts, Light knew for a fact how cunning werewolves could be; he'd fought in the War, and had gotten a very up close look at a fang-filled drooling maw when one of the flea-ridden things had ambushed him on an overlook. How many were there, and where was their den; things he had to know in order to have any chance of successfully avoiding them. A confrontation with them was something that he definitely wanted to avoid.

"This leech is no joke, that much is for sure." Mello grumbled, flopping down onto one of the couches littering the rec-room and eyeing Matt as he fiddled with the wiring of a game consol. "He was killing indiscriminately and sloppily until the night we caught his scent, and then he switched MOs to be a whole hell of a lot more cautious, meanwhile still managing to become even more destructive. He's taking up to twenty of them a night, pulling them into the sky like some gigantic bird so that he doesn't land and leave a scent and then just dropping them wherever. Brutal. Disgusting." He shuddered, then drew a chocolate bar from its hiding place within his clothes. "You ever gonna stop fucking around with that damn X-box? It's been broken for three years."

"If there's any chance of fixing it I'd like to find it rather than spending pack funds on a new one. I think L would actually kill us."

"Considering the fact that it keeps you busy, I doubt that." Near said, shuffling into the room with a robot toy in hand. "Pointlessness of it aside, the last thing this city needs is the two of you tearing through it in search of entertainment atop the massacre that the Vampire is perpetrating."

"Speaking of the Vampire, has L come up with anything?" Matt inquired, looking up from the consul he'd been gutting.

"He's going at with all that he can, Watari too, but he hasn't come up with anything yet."

"What I'd like to know is why the Hell we haven't been more hands on! This _thing_ is ravaging OUR city, killing the Humans that are under OUR protection, and meanwhile we're just sitting by and doing nothing! Why haven't there been more patrols? More hunts! Why haven't we taken torches and pitchforks to this bastard and ripped him from the sky!"

"The fact that the responsible party is a clan lord complicates things politically, for starters." Near drawled, giving Mello a look as if he were failing to understand an exceedingly simple concept. "We have to take steps to make sure that it doesn't look like we're attacking out of spite and that we really have a reason, and that means sending word of what's going on to Transylvania and alerting the other six to goings on. If we fail to conform to the necessary steps, it'll be open season on Lycans the world over. It's made even more tenuous by the fact that they're about to vote in a new 'King' who's been pushing for another War."

"Do you think this could be one of the more overzealous Night Children getting a head start on the new order?"

"Even if it is, this 'Kira' likely won't allow it to continue. Supporter or not, politically, this looks ugly."

"That can't be the only reason he's not letting us do anything. Even if we couldn't deal with the fanged freak directly, we should at least be engaging in some form of preventative action. And don't even try to give me some bullshit about it being 'dangerous'!"

"The simple fact of the matter is we've no trail to follow and no idea where to look." The white haired werewolf perched himself on another seat with a sight and continued to play with the toy that he held. "If we go to Enfield he could strike in Wandsworth and we'd have no way of knowing about it until it was too late. Forget about preventing it."

"Just because he's dropping them at random doesn't mean he isn't taking them from the same place Near!" Mello snapped back.

"And where would that place be, Mello? Where would we start?"

"The Red Light District, perhaps?"

"Ah, I hadn't thought the revenant would find himself in sudden need of relief from a raging hard-on that is paid by the hour." There was enough condescention in that statement alone to fatally poison the entirety of Western Europe, and the ability to immediately shoot it down filled Mello with immense pleasure.

"24 hour orgy to the average man, 24 hour all you can eat buffet to the average gluttonous vampire."

"That has to be the single stupidest thing I've ever heard! Are you actually suggesting that we hang around a strip club in hopes that it'll swoop down from the sky like a bat out of Hell so we can rip its wings of?" Near snorted. "How would we even get into a strip club anyway? We're underage."

"Yes, we are," Matt agreed, a mischevious glint to his eyes, "but you, Near, are the only one who couldn't pass for 21 with a fake I.D."

"The fact remains that L won't allow this."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"I want no part of this, and you two idiots will not force me into participating."

"Maybe we don't want you coming along." Mello snapped back, getting to his feet. "You coming, Matt?"

"I admit that Near has a point in that your plan is rather crack-ass, but I'm not about to leave you alone in the off chance that you do end up face to face with a blood thirsty Vampire leader." Dropping the electronic plyers he'd been holding, Matt got to his feet and followed Mello out into the Den house and into the darkness outside. Night had fallen a few hours before; it was cold and drizzly and all together unpleasant, as winter in those parts usually was. They walked a few blocks and hailed a cab; the driver shot them a strange look upon being given directions, but didn't question them-it was very likely he'd seen much stranger things then a pair of teenage troublemakers-and drove off without a word once they'd reached their destination and paid him. "So, which club?"

Mello looked around, trying to keep himself from focusing on any one thing amidst the sea of flashing neon club names, stripers, prostitutes working street corners and advertisements for various sex toys lest he become distracted quickly. "Let's start at the one right in front of us, case it and move on."

"Provided we don't get solicited." Matt muttered as he trailed after the leather-clad blonde; the notion that Mello fit right in in the seedy surroundings momentarily crossed his mind and he snickered. Standing at the door was an enormous bouncer, looking very imposing and equally bored; he didn't even spare them a second glance or ask for ID as they walked passed him and entered the first of many clubs lining the strip. Small, stuffy and noisy; music boomed from hidden speakers as a throng of ungroomed and evidently drunken men crowded the stage on which scantily clad exotic dancers twirled around poles. Matt looked away, forcing himself to scan the crowd with his eyes and sift through the smells in search of the painful stench of Vampire. Stale alcohol and lust was all he found. Catching up with Mello after losing him momentarily in the crowd he asked "did you find anything?"

The blonde shook his head and frowned. "No, nothing. This one's a bust."

"Let's get out of here." He felt that if they stayed in that club a moment longer he'd become ill, but of course the same thing likely awaited them in the next club and the next. Hours passed. The moon rose. They waded up to their chests through stripers, prostitutes, increasingly drunken patrons and the occasional drug dealer. Finally they reached a club called the _Silver Fox_ and slipped inside after being harried for a moment by a particularly menacing bouncer. This club was much more upstanding, at least as far as that type of establishment went, and seemed to cater to socially upstanding cliental; clean shaven men in suits filled the floor, likely all some manner of lawyer or doctor. All over 40. Except for one patron, who didn't quite fit the picture; he was a young man, likely no older than they were at around 19, with a sculpted face and thin lips. His hair was shoulder length and the color of leaves in autumn, his eyes brown with flecks of gold in them. His skin held an unhealthy palor, though a golden-tint persisted that marked the youth as being of Asian descent. He turned his head to scan the crowd as if looking for someone, and the smell crashed into him like a ton of bricks at the same moment that the frost white puncture marks on the side of his graceful neck were revealed. As the Vampire slunk away into the shadows towards the emergency exit with a stripper in pursuit, Matt's hand tightened into a vice grip around Mello's wrist.

"What-?"

"It's here! It went into the alley outside, and it isn't alone!"

"Good, we'll catch him while he's distracted!" Tearing out of Matt's grip Mello bolted for the door, plowing through the crowd and leaving his friend to hurry in his wake or be left behind. The door flew open as they crashed into it, hitting the brick wall of the alley with a resounding bang. The alley was empty; neither the woman nor the Vampire was visible. "It's gone!"

"_Mello, look out!" _He whirled around in time to see the thing pounce from where it had been crouching on the vertical brick wall above their heads; it caught him in the chest and knocked him to the alley floor. Its strength was incredible; Mello quickly found himself consumed by a sick feeling of dread as a pair of hollow milk white fangs were shoved into his face and their owner emitted a dry hiss like the rasp of a serpent.

"Bokuga kowai desuka?" it snickered sadistically. "Do I frighten you, little puppy? Have you bitten off more than you can chew?"

"_Get off him!" _The weight of his attacker vanished as the vampire dodged Matt's attack so fast he disappeared from the view of even their greatly enhanced senses, ending up at the mouth of the alley with his hands in his pockets and his head tilted to one side.

"What, exactly, are you at me about?" it questioned, as if unable to understand. "There is a peace between our two species, is there not? I have no malice against you, and I have not lifted a finger against one of your kind in all of the years since the war. I've no business doing so. So why do you attack me?"

"Because you're thoughtlessly slaughtering humans!" Recovering quickly from the shock of the sudden attack, Mello jumped back to his feet and assumed wolf form alongside an already snarling Matt. Now the Vampire seemed genuinely confused.

"From one Night Creature to another, why do you bother to protect they that once condemned you? Hunted you with silver and flame. Wore your pelts as coats. Blood feud aside, Humans have long been the mutual enemy of both the Night's Children and the Moon's Children; they fear all that which they cannot understand, and do not appreciate the knowledge that they are not the top of the food chain."

"So you do this out of resentment? How petty are you!"

"Resentment? I hold no resentment for Humans; I do not remember my Human life, but we all began as one of them. No. I do this out of necessity. But you've yet to answer my question." His golden eyes narrowed. "Why do you protect them so fervently as to bother hunting me down?"

"We protect them because it is the right thing to do! Because we are strong and they are weak, and it is the job of the more powerful to protect the lesser!" Mello bared his teeth at the vampire, but received no reaction. "If you would continue to threaten them, you leave us with no choice but to destroy you!"

"Okinodokuni. If you're going to act to kill me that gives me no choice but to do away with the both of you." He shook his head in show of false sadness, than flashed a bladed grin to again reveal fangs as enormous black wings spread from his back and he lifted off the ground and out of reach. "I will give you ten seconds to do away with this foolery and flee."

"We're not going anywhere!"

"Very well then. You call down death." Talons grew out from well-groomed nails as the honey-trap face twisted into a bestial snarl. "_I'll dispose of your nuisance swiftly!" _It dove at them with almost too much speed to dodge; both managed to jump clear at the last moment, leaving their attacker to pile-drive into the ground and leave a considerable crater behind. Annoyed, the Vampire growled. "If you move, I won't be able to assure you a quick and painless death mutts. Hold still!" It pounced again and again but again they managed to narrowly avoid being struck. As the Vampire sailed just clear of them Mello took to chance to launch an attack of his own but was sent reeling with a punishing strike from its right wing, the razor-sharp thumb talon opening a cut down his face that bled badly enough to blind him in one eye. "And first blood goes to me," the thing trilled as it again turned to face them. "But I've wasted enough time with the pair of you meddlesome dogs! Witness the power of the Yagami Vampire Clan!" Electricity crackled through the air, painfully charging their fur and paralyzing them where they stood. "Look at the pair of you, frozen in place with no way of dodging this time. I can see in your eyes that you know this is your end; at least you're not completely stupid." Two powerful wing strokes put the vampire at least ten feet in the air above them; he hovered there, regarding them for a moment. "Yes, I will be merciful in that I will kill you with a single strike. You won't feel a thing after all of the bones in your body break." He laughed then, pleasant but chilling. "I'll give you ten seconds to pray to whatever God you may believe in!" It was over. Both of them knew it. They were dead. Dead because of his stupid plan; it was his fault. His best friend was about to be killed because he'd misjudged the true depth of the yawning power gap that separated a Lord from a new born. It fell on them with a hellish screech, razor sharp talons glittering in the light of the moon that had just managed to break through the crowds. Mello managed to force his eyes into closing just before the deadly claws reached them.

"Mello! Matt!" Whatever power had ceased hold of them abruptly released its grip as their attacker snarled in anger and pulled up just at the last moment, buffeting the huge black wolf that had suddenly appeared in an attempt to cuff it in the head. With an angered howl L's fangs caught hold of one of them; the delicate bones shattered and the webbing shredded into bloody ribbons as a shriek of agony tore from the male's thin lips and he fell to the alley floor. The Vampire tried to get up, but L was too fast; the wolf was on him in seconds and it was all over. Blood, black in the darkness, dripped sluggishly from their pack leader's fangs and the blood sucking menace lay unconscious and bleeding on the trash-strewn pavement.

"L." Matt whimpered, his tail going between his legs as he dipped his head. Both of them were relieved beyond measure that he'd turned up when he had-and that Near had doubtlessly been the one to tip him off-but they were also both well aware that they were for it now.

"I'll deal with the two of you pups later," the black wolf snarled menacingly. "Help me drag our prisoner back to the Den. He has quite a few questions to answer."


	5. Twisting Truths

Chapter 4: Twisting Truths

The halls of the Castle of Night were so expansive, dark and drafty that it was no wonder it had generated so many Human clichés during the time of the first Vampire King, Dracula. The empty rafters rose far above his head, disappearing into the misty darkness to eventually be out of sight to even his enhanced vision. Bats crowded the bellfreys of the towers, huddled close together in chittering swaths around ancient bells, silent and long broken. A wolf howled in the stripped bare forest of black trees that clustered just outside the keep's stone walls, secretive and creaking ominously in the wind. The six remaining Clan Lords were staying in some of the various rooms of the Castle as the final vote on who would claim the empty throne drew ever nearer. His Lord, assured of his victory now that the outspoken and defiant Lord had been done away with-perhaps not as permanently as he would have liked but he didn't need to know that Light Yagami was not, in fact, dead-had already set up lodging there and now lived comfortably in the castle's most luxurious room. He stepped into said room with marked hesitation, beginning to tremble with the lie that he knew he would have to tell his Lord and Master to avoid his wrath, eyes scanning the shadows in search of his familiar form and finally alighting on him. He was tall and slight, graceful in posture with long lithe limbs. He had shoulder length deep red hair that looked as if it had been died in blood, and his eyes glowed scarlet like embers. He was immediately struck by just how much he looked like the Lord whose coven he'd been sent to slaughter; if he hadn't known any better, he would have sworn that they were twin brothers.

"There you are Teru. You were beginning to worry me." Kira's voice was smooth as silk as he turned to face him, at last tearing his cave from the gabled window; with one long fingered hand he beckoned him closer, the other supporting a heavy golden goblet full of blood. "Higuchi has disappointed me with a rather non-committal report. I know that I can count on you to do better, my pet." He went weak at the knees and almost toppled over as his master ran a hand through his black hair, but managed to contain all but a most undignified whimper in the face of his administrations. This made Kira flash an almost predatory grin. "Tell me, Teru, did you manage to do as I asked? Has Light Yagami and his coven been permanently done away with?"

"I…Of course, my Lord! We would never fail you! We slaughtered his coven, and then killed him as well when he returned from a hunt. And then we burned the coven house to the ground, just as you ordered."

"Well done," he withdrew, stepping away back up to the window. "Oh, how I wish that I was there to see the stake being driven through his heart! Such is the fate of all those who dare oppose their one true king; who dare to cling to the old ways in which we are bound by animals! They are the ones that make the Night Children weak!"

"They are indeed inferior, Lord Kira."

"Inferior? _Of course they are!" _ The sudden outburst made Mikami flinch back, but Kira didn't even seem to notice; he calmly took a sip from his glass, pale lips coming away stained with the contents. "But not for much longer. The Accords will be done away with, the Children of the Moon wiped out as they should have been long ago. The Humans reminded of their status as food. Light Yagami will have some use to me, in the end."

"M-Might I ask my omniscient Lord how?"

"Of course I would have to explain my reasoning to you, Mikami. I keep you around for your loyalty, not your intelligence." He drawled. "Simple; I had you burn the coven house, and the bodies along with it, to hide the truth of the wounds that killed the members of the Yagami Clan should someone become overcome with the dangerous emotion of curiosity and come looking. He was well liked by many and admired by even more; a highly influential vampire. His death will serve to inflame tempers; come with me to the meeting, pet, and see how."

The meeting. He'd almost forgotten. This would be entertaining, to say the least; it was always a pleasure to be in on it all as he watched one of his sire's devious plans come to fruitation. Mikami trailed after Kira as he left his chambers behind and the pair made their way back through the drafty corridors to the throne room. The seat of power itself, a gilded chair of black gold inlaid with enormous rubies and satin cushions, stood empty; around it had been erected seven temporary throne-like chairs, all occupied but for the third one from the end on the right, which had belonged to the Yagami Clan Lord. Kira grinned sadistically once again at the thought of the defeat of his sole opposition.

"Before we resume, there is an announcement that I am afraid I must make though it is of my most sincere displeasure to be the bearer of bad news."

"Kira, I have no intention of being rude, but should be not wait until all seven of us are here? Lord Yagami has yet to show himself." His bloody eyes flicked momentarily over the Lord who had spoken; tall and broad shoulders with a muscular build and long hair; Aden White, head of the Vampires of North America who made his home in the city of New York.

"My announcement pertains to his absence, I fear." Doing his best to screw his expression into something mournful and lace his voice with falsetto sorrow. "Not long after the last meeting of Council was adjourned, Yagami Light returned to his home in Japan. That very night he and his entire coven were massacred by Werewolves."

"_What!?" _

"_You must be joking!"_

_ "No survivers? You can't be serious!" _

_ "Why would the Children of the Moon attack Light? He's always taken pains to keep a good rapport with the packs surrounding his territory!"_

"The reasons are of secondary importance, if any importance at all." Kira had to raise his voice over the resultant din. "The Children of the Moon have murdered a member of the Council of Night with no provocation! This is as clear a declaration of war as can be given. Our race, our very society, is threatened with destruction; we treated with those filthy beasts when we should have destroyed them after the War, and that mistake has at last come back to bite us. I urge you to forgo tradition on account of the severity of circumstance; crown me king tonight. Give me the power that I need in order to not only protect our people but return our race to its former glory."

"War seems…drastic, but…we may not have another choice."

"Kira is right. War is the only option."

"Indeed; those animals have forced our hand! Lord Yagami did all in his power to placate and even befriend the Lycans, and they still turned on him."

"They murdered him in his own home! What do you think they could do to us?"

"Forget tradition; this is now a matter of life or death! We have to eradicate the mongrels before they can organize themselves further!"

"Kira, if we give you the crown that you are asking for, are you sure that you can protect us?"

The question he'd been waiting for; a predatory grin spread across his features, revealing the full length of his unretracted fangs. "I will do more than simply protect our kind; follow your King and give him your full and unquestioning devotion and you shall know no fear."

"Very well. You will take up the crown come dusk tomorrow. The fate of our race rests on your shoulders."

"Then my first act as King is to declare War."


	6. Captive

Chapter 5 – Captive

L crouched on the damp stone floor of the Den house cellar in his usual strange manor, knees pulled up to his chest and thumb pressed against his lower lip. The bars of the cage rose up before him, a towering construct of steel and iron. Secure. Unbreakable, he knew, even to an angry werewolf or-in this occasion-a blood gorged Vampire Lord. Yet fear of it escaping still persisted, and that was the reason that he sat sentinel outside. Or, at least, that was what he told himself. The real truth was he'd become quite intrigued, if not taken, by the fey creature now lying limp and unconscious in the bottom of the cage. His hair was the color of caramel with highlights of gold and low lights of red, and his eye lashes were long dark and almost girlish, casting thin shadows across the delicate bones of his face. His expression would have been almost peaceful, had the lids of his closed eyes not held the pearlescent sheen of something dead and his slightly parted lips not revealed a set of razor sharp fangs like hypodermic needles. His wings were still splayed about his limber form, the membrane of the left one torn to bloody shreds, what looked to be irreparable damage, the hollow bones broken into shards if the painful angle at which it was lying was anything to go by. Painful indeed, if the quiet whimper the issued from the Vampire's lips as he at last came around was anything to go by.

"So you're finally awake, parasite? I didn't damage you badly enough to prevent you from answering my questions, did I? You do still remember your name and station, son of the Night?"

"My name is Light Yagami; I am the Vampire Lord in charge of Asia, and I formerly made my home in Japan." He replied, not allowing the Alpha Werewolf's comments to glean any reaction from him; his tone was almost mechanical. "Why haven't you killed me yet, werewolf?"

"Simple. I have questions that I need answered and you can't answer them if you're dead. Well…more dead than you already are." Again, no reaction. "I know of you, and of your predecessor. Your blood power is the calling of lightning and thunder, you saw representation on the original Council of Night under Dracula-but that was Soichiro-and both he and you-up until you came to London, it would seem-operated under the philosophy of feeding from humans without killing them. Why are you in London, entirely outside of your sphere of influence, and why have you suddenly started to consume with gluttonous abandon. Why have you suddenly started to kill after 3,000 years?"

At last a reaction, though not at all the one he had been expecting. L had been prepared for the Night Children's customary pride, or for defiance, or to even be spit at. But instead his captive let out an anguished wail curled in on himself and began to cry. "Watashio miteinai! I am ashamed!"

"Relieve some of it; clear your conscience and explain yourself."

"From what you have told me your knowledge of Vampiric affairs is competent, if not intimate." Light replied. "What do you know of Kira?"

"Never heard of him."

"He's an upstart. A monster, really. Murderous and bloodthirsty; I knew he would be the death of us all the moment I laid eyes on him. I spoke out against him being elected as King, and for that I paid the price. My coven was murdered; I'd have been killed too if I hadn't narrowly managed to escape into the sky. I flew and flew for as long as I could until I crash landed here. For a long time I had no idea where I was." He sighed, shaking his head. "All that I've been thinking of is to gain power enough to take Kira on before he could do what he wished to and respark the war between our races, and, of course, to avenge my family. The only way that I could think of to do that…something that was abhorrent to me, but…Kira was a far greater threat than my principles could allow to exist in any position of power. The way I saw things in that moment…their sacrifice was noble towards the ends of saving their race from being transformed into something akin to cattle. But I suppose no life lost is worth it, regardless of the cause. If my sire saw me now, he'd likely kill me himself. I've invaded your pack's territory, albeit unknowingly, and committed a horrible crime. Do what you must."

"You claim that a second war is on the horizon, that your coven was murdered and that you single handedly intended to put a stop to it?" L repeated, tilting his head slightly to one side to observe the vampire who was indeed very strange from a slightly different angle. "And yet you would accept death at my pack's hand as punishment for your actions without fighting back?"

"I realize now that I was a fool to ever think that I could thwart Kira alone, and with my coven gone I've no allies left that I can truly trust. As I said, I have committed a crime. Let me suffer my punishment; 3,000 years is long enough a life."

For a while longer L continued to start unabashedly at his prisoner, and a silence descended where neither spoke. "I am not going to kill you." The look of shock that settled over the vampire's face was incredibly rewarding. "Not, at least, so long as you agree to my terms."

"I am not one to throw mercy back in my benefactor's face." Light replied. "Let me hear them."

"You leave. Not just the British Isles but Europe all together. By dawn."

"That will be difficult, as I can no longer fly. If you could give me a few days-."

"You may feed once more to repair your wing provided you do not kill. If you're still in this city by sunset, my pack will hunt you down and we will kill you."

"You have my word. I'll be gone."

"I'll open the cage now. One false move-."

"I'm not a fool, wolf. I know better than to provoke you." Rising from his crouch, L pulled the key from within his clothes and undid the lock; he pulled open the door, carefully keeping it between him and his captive encase the Vampire betrayed his word and tried something. Light got to his feet as well and, dragging his mangled wing behind him, exited the cage. "Shall I walk back through your den house and risk being accosted by your puppies?"

"You may leave rather more discretely through the cellar door over here." L motioned for him to follow and lead Light to the cellar door located at the top of a little stair case. "You're free to go, for now. But remember-."

"Gone by dawn, I gave you my word." Light pulled open the door and stepped out into the alleyway; minor annoyance registered as he realized that L was still following him. "You'll never seen my face again, wolf. And I'll be glad to be gone from this rainy place." That said, Light turned on his heel and took off down the road at a brisk pace; L stood sentinel in the open doorway, watching his back as he retreated into the city's shadows.


	7. Strange Bedfellows in Vengeance

"You just let him go? You're serious?" Incredulity didn't even begin to describe the look on Mello's face in the wake of what their pack leader had told them. "But…he's a Vampire! He tore a path of death and destruction through _our _city. Attacked me and Matt-."

"Actually," Near interjected without looking up from the blank puzzle he was reassembling for what had to be the millionth time, "you attacked him after running off on some half-baked plan against orders."

"Don't tell me you're ok with this Near?" it was Matt who spoke this time, equally upset by the news but much better at hiding it than his pack mate.

"Ok with it? Of course not, but that's not my call. And, after breaking so many rules so recently why is it that the two of you think you have any right to question our Alpha's word."

"We were just…you're right." Matt sighed while Mello said nothing. "But it would help if you'd explain a little more, L. You never do anything without reason."

"I let him go partly because he was visibly upset by what he was done and very much repentant, partly because, where he didn't grovel at my feet to be released, he didn't spit in my face like most of the Night's children would have, …and partly because I know the sort of pain that he is going through."

"So the little bat-boy got hurt by someone, did he?" Mello sneered. "What right does that give him to go slaughtering the helpless with no regard for their friends? For their family? What-."

"Family is exactly what this all boils down to," Cutting Mello off in his usual monotone, L pulled his knees up to his chest and curled his toes around the edge of the couch cushion. "Lupus est fortitudo ipsum et lupus est fortitudo pravis; the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. We Lycans value family above all else; we live, work, and move in tight knit family units that can grow to be very large. A packless wolf is a wolf that is soon to die. But we are, in the end, little more than mortals ourselves. Death, in the end, is expected. We can't escape it. Loosing those who we love is something that, however harsh as it may seem, we grow used to. But the Night Children are not like us. Born from death, they live eternal-or at least to be very very old indeed-and do not expect to die. For them, death is not natural. But they are like us in that they, too, have families. Small groups, even tighter bond than our kind's packs; Covens, they are called. The members of a coven live, hunt, work and play together. Just like us. Imagine, Mello, anchoring your life, your heart, your soul, to a certain small group of people who are special to you. Imagine living with them for hundreds of thousands of years. Never being apart for very long. Imagine them, their embrace, their presence being the only thing you've ever known. Now imagine losing all of that in one fell swoop before you can even realize what has happened. Our…guest's coven was murdered right before his eyes, all because he-a highly influential Lord-spoke out against Kira. He was robbed of his entire world, and then cast out by the society originally meant for those who all other societies would not accept. He is doom to walk the night, alone and hunted, forever. That is punishment enough. That is why I let him go."

Silence reigned for an impressive while considering who was in the room, but all too soon it was broken by the surly blonde. "If you're trying to make me feel even the least bit sorry for that blood sucking bastard you're wasting your breath!" He snapped, turning on his heel and stomping out. Matt made to hurry after.

"Mello, where are you going?"

"Where do you think I'm going? It's almost sun up, and if that thing isn't long gone by now he's fair game; I intend to give him a piece of my mind, minus the dirty tricks!"

"Mello, come back!"

Near only spoke once both of the other two had left. "You said you know the pain that he went through…so that must mean that you yourself lost a family. It must have been before us, so…did you have another pack? Were they killed? Perhaps by Vampires?"

" …" L sighed. "I suppose it doesn't do any harm for you to know. No, I did not have a pack before this one. And no, it was not the Night Children who were at fault. It was a faulty radiator. My family died in a house fire. I made it out…but they were trapped and as a young boy…going back in didn't occur to me."

"You blame yourself?"

"I didn't save them."

"You couldn't have. You were a child, after all, and Human. There was nothing that you could have done."

"I suppose that is also true." L quieted, losing himself in his own thoughts and only looking up when he saw Near rise from his seat on the floor. "Are you off somewhere too?"

"I figure I ought to go after the pair of them before they do something else stupid that they won't live to regret. Knowing Mello, he'll hunt our…blood-thirsty tourist down before the sun even rises."

"Be careful, Near. He has nothing left to lose; if Light is attacked again, he won't hold back."

"L, you know me well enough to trust in the truth that I am _always _careful."

A thin line of whitish grey was beginning to stain the horizon as Light sat atop the roof of the Saint Paul's Cathedral, staring out at the view. He didn't want to go on like this. Didn't want to live without the family that he had lost. The family he should have saved, but had abandoned instead. The wolves had threatened him with death should he remain…but he didn't want to die either. Not yet, at least. For the only thing that outweighed his grief was his burning, wrathful vengeance. Kira would pay dearly for all that he had done. Only then, once the tyrant who had stolen everything from him was forever vanquished, would he re-evaluate his feelings. But would he leave London? Could he remain without being noticed? If so, for how long? If not, then where else could he go? Back to Japan? That was what Kira would expect, as he likely knew that he'd escaped his minion's clutches by now. Anywhere in Asia, where he had at least some small influence, was suspect. The British Isles had been clearly made off limits by the wolves. What about the rest of Europe? Or North America? He always had had an ally in Aden White. Perhaps he could find a new home there. Call in some favors with the other Lords. Show them Kira's true colors and turn them against him? Maybe then-.

"Hey, will you _please _slow down Arkov!" That voice. He knew that voice. Recognized it immediately. Crawling to the edge of the roof, Light peered down at the pair of vampires who had no idea he was eavesdropping and most definitely shouldn't have been in London. "If you go running off like a little bitch and we get separated, there's no way we'll be able to take on the wolves. We've underestimated their flea-ridden kind for too long; they slaughtered the Yagami clan Lord, that ought to show you what complacency begets!" The red hair. The thin, pointed shoulders. Ferret-like appearance. Garret Mallory, Aden White's lieutenant and enforcer. But what were they doing there? And what was this about him being killed by wolves?

"How big did he say this pack was again?" the first asked, looking around suddenly nervous.

"Obviously not too big. Aden isn't a vindictive bastard; if he wanted to get rid of us, he'd have done it himself not sent us in to get ripped apart. Also, keep in mind that King Kira's two enforcers, Mikami and Higuchi, are poking around nearby. If we run into trouble, all we have to do is call them."

"Right." The other still looked nervous. "So…where do you think the wolves would be?"

"At this time of night they ought to be out of their den, running around the city. If we're lucky, we can pick them off one by one. Let's get going." They walked off again and were quickly out of sight. Only once he was sure they were gone did Light draw back from the edge with a sigh.

"Damn my sense of morality to Hell," he grumbled. "Looks like I won't be gone by sun rise after all."

Mello and Matt were proving harder than usual to locate, and this was beginning to make Near more than a little bit nervous. The two both had their own pretensities for stupid, but when they were together this soared to even greater highest, often at the inevitable peril of themselves and those around them. He'd checked Matt's favorite game store and the candy store where they bought their sweets, the bar where Mello passed himself off as 21 to get drunk every once and awhile, he'd even gone into the seedy 'red light district' only to find a whole bunch of nothing. He couldn't even locate their scent; this was the oddest thing of all. Perhaps they'd gone back to the den? He could only hope. Turning to leave the alleyway, he came face to face with the most unwelcome sight of a pair of men with blood red eyes. They smiled evilly, revealing long fangs, and his immediate thought was _'shit.'_

"Hunting all night, and we finally find one of the wolfies?" one purred sadistically, drawing forwards at a threatening, measured pace. "Just a puppy by the looks of him; his paws are huge! Such a pretty white pelt; I'm sure Lord Kira would love to use it to pad his throne!"

"Now you're talking about bribing him with gifts? Really Mikami, if you just tell him the truth he'll scream at you, maybe flog you and everything will be over with. You're making it a lot worse by lying." The second grumbled, crossing his arms over his suit-clad chest.

"Just because you could care less what our gracious Lord and Sire thinks of you does not mean I must hold myself to that same ignoble standard Higuchi!" The first snapped. "I can't stand the thought of our Lord and Master being disappointed because I have failed him!"

"So you think a fur coat will make it better?"

"Padding his throne in Yagami's skin is wholly unattractive!"

"Disgusting sycophant."

"_What did you call me!?"_

"You heard me; but this is hardly the time. Don't look now, it's getting away."

Near dove through the door of the building he'd managed to force open and leapt into the stairwell, taking them two at a time with the pair in hot pursuit. He ran faster than he ever had in his life, breath tearing from his lungs and leaving his throat raw. The door at the top burst open with a loud bang and he tore across the roof, making a flying leap for the roof on the opposite side of the street and changing back to human form to reach out for the edge, straining as far forward as he could. His nails scrapped against the wall as he fell just short. The feeling of plummeting ceased over him, but it was halted almost instantly; something freezing cold and painfully strong held his wrist in a vice grip. His nose burned, making his eyes water even while squeezed tightly shut as the scent of Vampire overpowered him. He was dangling in thin air, the wind caressing his body in a way that was entirely unnatural for a ground-bound creature and made him more than a little uncomfortable. Forcing his eyes open, he was met with a pair of golden brown orbs gazing back at him.

"You!"

"Me," Light smiled, revealing his mostly hidden fangs as he pulled Near fully up onto the roof. "I know what you're about to say, wolf, and I'm going to get it all over with now and tell you to shove it. And to answer the question you're bound to ask, I'm helping you because A) your pack leader showed me mercy, so I'll return a margine of the favor by saving one of his kin and B) those bastards are the ones who slaughtered my coven in cold blood!" Rising to his full height and spreading his wings, Light extended a hand to Near as his grin grew slightly more disconcerting. "Come with me if you want to live."


	8. Justified Kidnapping

Near wasn't entirely sure how he'd expected running after Matt and Mello to end up, but being given a flying piggy-back ride by a Vampire was definitely not it. At the moment he was clinging on for dear life as said Vampire streak across the dawn tinged sky, leaving London and then England behind. It was only once they were over the open waters of the English Channel that he managed to work up the courage to question it dispite the possibility that his captor/savior might decide to drop him for his insolence.

"Where are you taking me?"

The Vampire Lord made no motion to show that he had heard him other than a slight sift of his golden eyes. "Somewhere safe. They'll find you if I leave you in London."

"Safe? I'm sorry, but anywhere near you-a Vampire-is the furthest thing possible from safe."

Now he smiled; a shiver went down his spine at the sight of the milk white fangs. "Ahh, but I am not like most Vampires Near. I cannot say that I like Werewolves, but I do not hate them either. Besides, if last night served to show us anything, it was that your kind as a whole and I have a common enemy in Kira."

"Abducting me isn't going to go over well with my Pack, especially considering what you did in London."

"Abduct? I didn't abduct anyone."

"Then what, exactly, would you call this?"

"Saving you, obviously." Near clutched on tighter when he felt the Vampire's body tremble beneath him, only to realize that it was laughing.

"You still haven't answered my question; where are we going. I want a specific answer this time!"

"Chateau Plessis Bourra."

"Excuse me?"

"A…summer home, if you will, that I own. Not many people know about it, and none of them would ever think to look. I…used to come here from time to time with my Coven, back when they were still alive. There's a village just below it; my sister loved going down there and teasing the boys that fell for her." A look of sadness passed over his face, but was gone within seconds. "We'll be there is a few moments. It's just passed the coastline of Nord-Pas de Cailas." The coastline of France appeared on the horizon just as he spoke; they veered North and continued on along it until they had passed Normandy, only then did Light bank slightly climb above cloud level to avoid being seen as they flew over land in broad daylight. The lighter it got, the more concerned Near became about his 'pilot' falling asleep at the proverbial wheel; luckily for him, it was only a few minutes later that they descended onto the sprawling green lawns of a beautiful French castle of white stone. Near clambered down as quickly as he could leaving Light to wobble almost drunkenly before regaining his footing. "I would offer to give you a tour, but as it is I can barely walk and really need to get to sleep as soon as possible. Look around at your leisure and choose whatever room you wish to stay in; try not to fall in the pond. The phone should be in the kitchen, if memory servers; call your pack and tell them where you are. Feel free to wake me if you need anything, but I'd rather that you not." With that, he turned on his heel and vanished into the shadowed confines of the old building leaving Near alone.

_Well…it looks as if I have no other choice but to amuse myself until nightfall when, I assume, he'll wake up. _He thought, reaching up and beginning to twirl a lock of his curly white hair around one finger. _What a strange Night Child you are, Light Yagami. This seems to go beyond any principles and morals you might have; it seems to be your very nature to use your powers to defy the system. I must wonder, was this your sire's intent when he turned you? If so, he chose well; I think you quite capable of bringing all our races have ever known down in flame and thunder, but will there be something better on the other side? _Turning to look out over the glass-still black water of the nearby pond, he nodded to himself after a moment. _Perhaps. We will find out. _The inside of the old castle was as stunning as the exterior, the original furnishings entirely intact and spotless; aside from cobwebs in the corners of the many large rooms and a thick layer of dust coating everything the building was surprisingly well cared for despite the little use that it had seen. Pulling the white sheets from the furniture that he passed, Near found Victorian style claw foot couches, hand carved wooden chairs inlaid with gold carvings and everything in between. At the end of one particularly far removed hallway, a grandfather cloak straight from the pages of Edgar Allen Poe's _Masque of the Red Death _tolled the top of the hour; as the chimes rang out through the hollow hallways, Near's body remembered exactly how tired it really was. Exhaustion making his limbs heavy, he dragged himself into the nearest room-tastefully decorated in black velvet in a manner that was undeniably feminine-and collapsed onto the bed, not caring that the sheets smelled of Vampire. He was asleep within seconds.

"L, we've been searching for hours. There's no sign of Near anywhere!"

"With those two leeches we had to deal with last night, this doesn't feel right! Rational has probably gone and gotten himself injured!"

"Mello, Matt, I need you both to calm down!" L had to raise his voice in order to be heard over the ensuing chaos; he, too, had a terrible feeling regarding the possible fate of the youngest member of his pack, but he couldn't afford to show it in front of the other two. It would only serve to heighten their panic. "What of the Vampire who was originally causing trouble here? Has he gone?"

"It would appear so, yes! _What about Near!" _Mello demanded, brushing blonde bangs out of his face with blue eyes shining with impatience and nervous tension. "_We HAVE TO find our brother!"_

"We will, Mello." He promised, concealing a grimace behind his usual expressionless mask. "We won't stop looking until we find him." _Though, with the way things have been going, I fear what we may discover when we do._


	9. The Countryside of France

The Yagami Coven was out of the way forever. Every other Lord was clutching to his every word like a life line in the void of Light's powerful voice. The Wolves were on the run, soon to be done away with completely. He had his crown and he power and he would keep them forever; rule over a perfect world as a God. All of his plans had fallen into place perfectly. It had been easy, in the end. Too easy. He should have known from the beginning that something wasn't right.

_Is it possible? Could Light Yagami really still be alive? It's possible that that incompetent slug could have lied to me, and I never expected much from Higuchi as he always has been a rather loose cannon, but…what should I do about him if my suspicions are correct?_ Kira grimaced, one fang puncturing his lower lip; he hissed out a curse before reaching over and refilling his goblet, this time with wine. _It is true that he could prove dangerous; his tseudo friendship with Aki's pack in Kyoto…but he's not in Japan if he did survive. Where ever he has fled to, he'll be floundering without a Coven surly…but this can't be allowed to get out. If he is alive and it is ever made known, the pretense on which my claim to the throne-and the reason the remaining Lords swore to follow me in the first place-will be gone. What do I do? What do I do? How the Hell do I contain this? _He'd punish his lackies for their failures later; he had much more important things to attend to. Finding intelligence that could be trusted not to blab for starters, and another thing he had to do-.

"_KIIIIIIIRAAAA-SAMAAAAA!_" Oh God, please no. Not now. He knew that caterwalling harpy screech anywhere, and merely hearing it made him visibly shudder. Why was it that she always found the most inopportune of times; it were almost as if she was making a conscious effort to infuriate him!

_If only it were possible to get rid of her too._ He thought, composing himself just as the sugary blonde burst down his door clad in nothing but gothic langeree. Again. "Misa, darling," a muscle in his face twitched as he fought to keep his expression agreeable, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, my darling, other than you keeping yourself cooped up in your chambers all alone all of the time!" She purred, practically falling into his arms. "My beloved King, even you need to take a break from scheming once in a while. Let me distract you for a few hours."

He could tell from the look in her eyes what she was meaning to suggest. "Misa…now is _really _not the time-."

"But _WHY! _You're always up here all alone staring out the window at those dead trees drinking! Doesn't bottled blood get old once in a while? Doesn't planning and replanning everything get stressful?" She reached up and rested her little hand on his shoulder, trailing it down his arm in a stroking motion. "You're so tense."

The people that he kept around him in his close circle weren't exactly what one would refer to as intelligent by any means-this was purposeful, as the weak of mind were far easier to control-but Misa took stupid to a whole new level. The only reason he kept her around…to her credit, sometimes she had her moments. _I suppose she's right about one thing; I am rather tense. And there's definitely no way I'm getting rid of her this time until she gets what she wants. It's rather obvious that the quickest way to resolve this…distraction will be to satisfy her. Otherwise I won't be able to hear myself think until sunrise._ Reverting his annoyance into the most plausible pleasant grin that he could muster, Kira pulled her closer. "You take good care of me, Misa. I would surely run myself ragged without your tending."

"Misa would do anything for her Lord Kira. He saved Misa from the man who murdered her parents after all. Gave Misa immortality; Misa owes him everything."

"And I am sure that you'll do a good job pleasing me, as always." He purred tilting his chin slightly to allow her to reach his neck. Yes, perhaps a few hours of distraction was just what he needed after all…

What finally woke him from a dreamless sleep was a cold but gentle hand coming to rest on his shoulder; opening his eyes, Near found Light standing at the bedside with an odd expression-half sorrow and half nostalgia-on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just…" he looked away with a sigh. "This was Sayu's room."

"Oh. I...hadn't realized."

"You didn't intrude. Don't worry." An awkward silence fell between them and persisted for a long while before Light finally spoke again. "You have called your Pack, yes? I would assume that they will arrive within the next few hours, provided they're not already storming the manor like Normandy beach as we speak to free you from my 'devilish clutches'."

"Actually, I think I'll hold off on telling them where I am for now." This made the Vampire look over at him again, his eyes widening in surprise; Near noticed a thin sliver of red had begun to form along his jet black pupils.

"Why? I'm sure they're worried sick over you! I certainly would be if you were a member of my Coven gone missing! Especially with you being-I assume-the youngest?"

"Yes, I am the youngest. But despite my looks, I am not a child. I'm 16, and perfectly capable of deciding my own path."

"You aren't legally an adult until you are twenty, pup."

"Perhaps where you come from; in England, the legal age of adult is 18. And besides, those are Human laws. And neither you nor I are Human."

"…I've no ability to contend with that." Light allowed, crossing his arms over his chest; Near realized for the first time that he was wearing a black trench coat over a tight fitting grey shirt and dark stained jeans. "That doesn't mean I won't contend your decision to leave your family hanging."

"I simply want to know more about you before being put in a situation where my Pack Mates will get in the way; I've been told of the Night Children, that your kind are thoughtless monsters motivated only by an unending thirst for the blood that fuels your unholy existence. You are the first Vampire I have met in person, and you have proven all I've been told false…for the moment."

Light grinned; his fangs, like his eyes, were beginning to show his need for blood. "Like I told you, I am not like the others of my kind. For better or for worse." Tilting his head to one side slightly, he inquired "you haven't contacted your family because you want to study me without them getting in the way?"

"Have you never done something similar in all your years?"

"…I will give you that one. Very well, I will not force you to contact your Pack tonight. But please, do it sometime in the near future for their sanity's sake."

Now it was Near's turn to grin. "Sanity? They possess no such thing to begin with." He informed him, then eyed his clothing again. "Are you going somewhere?"

"The bottled blood in the wine cellar is long past expired, and I need to feed soon. On top of that, as my kind do not need to eat there is no food on the premisis at the moment. If you would like to accompany me, I will take you into town?"

"I'm…afraid I don't speak French."

"I do; a power of Vampire's is to gain the ability to fluently speak any language by drinking the blood of a native speaker. The last time I was in France was long ago, just before the French Revolution to be exact, but I've retained the ability." Light explained. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes but…is it possible that I could take a shower?"

"Of course; you are my guest, not my prisoner. The bathroom is down the hall; the pipes work and we have electricity too if you were wondering. I'll go so if I can find anything that might fit you…" once again, his odd companion left him abruptly to find his own way through the mansion. Eventually stumbling on said bathroom by chance, Near took his shower quickly-he heard the door open and close quickly at some point in the middle of it-and changed into the rather large clothes that had been left out for him. Exiting the bathroom and proceeding downstairs, he found Light awaiting him at the front doors. "My, the fit is worse than I feared." He fretted, grimacing. "We'll have to get you clothes as well. It won't do for your pack mates to find you like that; I should have known that even Matsuda's clothes wouldn't fit you, as you're rather small for your age."

"You're no Godzilla yourself." He retorted, earning a wry smile.

"Well, I find that people like you and I make up for our slight size with a brain capacity far exceeding the norm, yes?"

"Indeed." He agreed with a nod, following the older man out onto the porch. The night was cold and clear, the stars shinning like fire in the skies above. "How will we be getting to the city?" he was now sure that the Vampire Lord wouldn't drop him, at least not on purpose, but the thought of flying still didn't much appeal to him. Seeming to sense this, Light laughed.

"Don't worry, it isn't far. We'll flit."

"…Flit?"

"Another inherent ability of my kind. Flitting is a minor form of teleportation; it allows me to travel large distances in a matter of moments. The older the Vampire, the further he can go in a single flit. Of course, there are limits to it. I couldn't take us to the moon, or across the Atlantic Ocean for example." He held out his hand for Near to take. "Hold on to me; we'll be in Paris is a few moments."

"…" hesitating for as long as he was able, he finally reached out and took his hand. Immediately afterwards he felt as if the floor had dropped out from under him and by the time he recovered he found himself standing beside Light in the shadows of the Arch de Triumph.

"Bienvenue à la Ville Lumière," Light purred, gesturing grandly at the sparkling city scape. "Welcome to Paris. Where would you like to go first; we have all night if you wish to sight see."

"Should you take care of what you need to take care of before we go running off on menial errands?" again twirling a lock of hair around his fingers, he flashed Light a sideways glance. "Forgive my failed attempt at being delicate."

"To be honest with you, I have the feeling an ineptitude at delicacy is a problem shared by your entire pack." Came the reply. "Never fear; I'm not easily offended despite my pride. And you are right, I do need to take care of…that. Are you hungry?"

"A little bit."

"Good; see that café there?" Near looked in the direction Light was pointing before nodding. "Go in there-supposedly it's a popular place-and tell them you're looking for a table for two and waiting on a companion; Je suis en attente sur un compainon. Sièges pour deux? I'll be in to join you in a few minutes." He figured that by the third time it happened he would have grown used to the Vampire's sudden disappearances, but apparently not; he was left shocked once again to find himself suddenly alone. Making his way over to the café and repeating the phrase that Light had told him, sure that he'd pronounced at least 95% of it wrong, he sat down at the table he was led to to wait. Within a span of ten minutes, Light was sliding gracefully into the seat opposite him. "That was fast."

"Well, when you're as old as I one becomes efficient at this sort of thing. Had a look at the menu yet?"

"I can't read it; it's in French."

"I gather you like sweet things?"

"How did you guess," Near drawled, wondering if he'd seen the three of them walking back from the sweet shop in London with the giant bags of sweets in tow.

"You'll probably like this rouleau au chocolat; it's a…what are they called in English? Those pastery things…they use a lot of butter to make them. Cresent shaped."

"A croissant?"

"Yes, that. Except it's like a desert; it's filled with chocolate."

"I have a feeling it'll look rather strange if I order food and you sit there watching me; getting anything?"

"Coffee."

"No food?"

"I eat from time to time, but only for pleasure…or distraction."

"Well, what do you normally eat when you do?"

"…barbeque potato chips. Or Poky. Maybe sushi from the convenience store. And one time Matsuda brought home a jar of pickled Daikon." He sighed. "Coffee is good for now. What I am…I'd like to feel warm for a little while."

"Understandable."

Silence again fell over their shoulders. The waiter came and they ordered their chosen items; Light's coffee was delivered a few minutes later. Taking a drink he grimaced. "Black coffee." That said, he reached for a bowl of sugar cubes, only to stop short as Near suppressed a snort. "Nani?"

"Nothing, it's just…in that moment you reminded me of L. Of course, I expect you're not intent on pouring the entire bowl of sugar cubes into your drink."

"…That much sugar might be enough to restart my heart! Are you sure he's actually a werewolf and not a sugar demon from the depths of Hell?"

"If Demons exist, I've never seen one."

"I have." Setting his now slightly sweetened drink down on its saucer, Light resting his chin on linked fingers. "So, what sort of thing do you like. And I'm not talking about food."

"Well, what I was wearing when you brought me here was basically what filled my closet; you'll quickly realize we all have wardrobes filled with duplicates of the same outfit. It's easier that way."

"…Well, if you wish to wear pajamas around everywhere I suppose I have no right to stop you. However…if we walked into a clothing store and requested 20 of the same outfit I think someone might get a little bit suspicious."

"I suppose, but that never mattered to us."

"At this point, flying under the radar is key."

"Understandable."

"Is there anything else that I can get for you while we're in the city? Something to make you more comfortable? And what of your pack mates? I would suppose we ought to get rooms ready for them before they arrive."

"I suppose, though I doubt getting them to stay will be that easy."

"I gather it wouldn't be. But once the full implications of exactly what is going on I trust that good sense will prevail?"

"That all depends on the day, I'm afraid." Near replied, picking at the remainder of his half-eaten food. "L is highly intelligent-atop being our pack leader he is also the world's greatest detective, though as he deals with strictly human offenders I doubt you would have heard of him-but he is extremely stubborn. Matt Mello and I were all adopted by him from an orphanage known as Whammy's; we, likewise, have exceedingly high IQs but…No one can tell Mello what to do. As for Matt…he doesn't really care what happens, to be honest, as long as he doesn't have to part with his video games."

"Well then, let us hope that whatever day they arrive is a good day." Setting aside his finished cup of coffee, Light regarded Near quizzically for a moment. "Have you decided exactly when it is that you'll be calling your pack yet?"

"I'd prefer more time to take your measure for myself, but I suppose you are right about leaving them hanging coming back to bite me." Near replied quietly, pushing aside his plate. "I'll call them tomorrow."

"I'm sure they'll be relieved to know that you're alright."

"I'm sure they will."

"Well, if you're finished eating than I think we should be going. It's my understanding that you and I have a lot of shopping to do."

They'd been searching for two whole days and hadn't found a trace, despite scouring the city from top to bottom. L still held out hope that he could be found, but he was an experienced detective. He'd seen so many of these cases before. With the person missing for so long it was unlikely that they would be found alive if they were found at all, and that was in a circumstance when the responsible party was Human. If Vampire's were responsible…he couldn't deny that he feared the worst. The sound of stampeding feet advanced down the hall towards him; he looked up in time to see Mello and Matt come spilling through the door, the leather-clad blonde brandishing a phone like a weapon.

"L!" He screeched. "The phone call! It's from Near!"


End file.
